The Four Colours of High-Performing Teams: Using Insights Discovery to Strengthen Leadership Impact

Even the most capable teams can struggle when communication styles clash or when leaders misread what their people need. Targets are missed, tensions rise, and alignment slips, not because the strategy is wrong, but because people are operating from different behavioural preferences.

This is where the Insights Discovery Model becomes a powerful tool. Grounded in Jungian psychology and widely used across Australian organisations and globally, it helps leaders understand the four Colour Energies that shape how people think, communicate and make decisions. When teams learn to recognise and flex these energies, performance, collaboration, understanding and clarity improve dramatically.

Hi, I’m Gloria Rees, Partner at Dreem Coaching & Consulting: 

• Insights Discovery Global Faculty Member
• Executive Coach
• 25+ Years in Sales, Leadership and  L&D 
• Growth & Performance Partner 

Beyond Personality: Understanding the Four Colour Energies

The beauty of the Insights Discovery Model is that it provides a shared language for understanding behavioural preferences in the workplace. These preferences are not personality types that constrain you; they are energies you can access and utilise. We all have access to these four colour energies, but we need to understand our preferences, other people's preferred ways of operating and then how best to use them and when, depending on the people we interact with and the different situations we are in.

The Four Colour Energies are:

1. Fiery Red Energy (Goal-Focused): This is the energy of action. Red is competitive, determined, and highly task-oriented. People leveraging this energy can drive results, keep the momentum going and may prefer quick decision-making.
2. Cool Blue Energy (Precise): This is a very data-driven energy, wanting to compare and contrast facts before making a decision. Blue energy is cautious, questioning, highly structured, and driven by accuracy. This energy is essential for quality control and strategic analysis.
3. Sunshine Yellow Energy (Dynamic): This is the energy of connection. Yellow energy is sociable, optimistic, dynamic, innovative and may like to brainstorm. This energy fuels creativity and team engagement.
4. Earth Green Energy (Accommodating): This is the energy of diplomacy. Green energy is caring, supportive, encouraging and focused on maintaining harmony and deep relationships within the team. This energy ensures stability, trust and collaboration.

You’re Not a Colour. You Have Access to All Four

A critical mistake is assuming you are a colour. You are not a colour; you simply prefer to access certain colours. True Executive Coaching focuses on helping you access the colour energies each situation demands.

The strongest leaders are those who recognise:

• The need for balance: A team can be composed of any mix of colours; everyone within the team needs to be aware of their strengths and challenges. If a team has more of some colours than others, they need to be aware of the impact of this on other team members, as well as other teams and their perceptions of the team. Leaders don't recruit based on someone's colour energy preference, but knowing and understanding the impact of the team's mix is crucial. The,n having team has discussions to recognise the team's behavioural preference mix.
• Good Day vs. Bad Day Behaviours: Every colour has a "shadow side", or at least a perceived “shadow side”.  Red Energy may become demanding and dictatorial; Green Energy may become overly accommodating and avoid conflict; Blue Energy may become isolated and rigid; Yellow Energy may become scattered and lose focus. Bad Day behaviours don't mean the person is necessarily having a bad day. It could be the perception of someone experiencing your behaviours. This is where understanding other people's behavioural styles and the possible impacts or perceptions others may have can help leaders build high-performing teams.

Insights Discovery for Team Performance & Workplace Communication

By giving your organisation a shared language for behaviour, the Insights Discovery Model helps teams:

• Reduce communication breakdowns
• Improve collaboration across different working styles
• Strengthen leadership capability
• Build resilience and psychological safety
• Create alignment across strategy, roles, and expectations
  
  

It is one of the most powerful tools we use in our Team Performance & Communication Training Programs.

If you’d like to understand your team on a deeper level and create a more intentional way of working together, we would love to guide you through it.

Let’s bring the Insights Discovery framework into your organisation and unlock the clarity your team deserves.